Apple Debuts New 'Move to iOS' App for Android

Alongside the launch of iOS 9, Apple today introduced a new "Move to iOS" app for Android devices. The app, which is now available for download, is designed to help Android users transfer their content from an Android device to an iOS device.

With Move to iOS installed on an Android smartphone or tablet, the Move to iOS service is able to transfer almost all important data from the Android device to the new iOS device, including contacts, message history, photos and videos, web bookmarks, mail account information, calendars, wallpapers, DRM-free songs, and books.

movetoios

Using Move to iOS also helps users transfer over their apps to rebuild their app libraries. On the Android device, the app will compile a list of all the apps that have been downloaded from the Google Play Store or other sources. All free apps that have iOS counterparts will be suggested as immediate downloads, while apps that have paid iOS counterparts will be automatically added to a user's iTunes Wish List for purchase as needed.

Apple has created a support document that walks Android users through using the Move to iOS app. It requires Android 4.0 or later, a Wi-Fi connection, and enough available space on the iOS device receiving content.

First announced at WWDC, Move to iOS is Apple's most aggressive move towards encouraging Android users to switch to iPhone. By making it easy to transfer content, Apple is removing a lot of the headache associated with changing platforms. Apple has had a support document and a microsite designed to help Android users switch to iOS for quite some time, but this new app is a more comprehensive, streamlined solution.

Tag: Move to iOS

Top Rated Comments

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Dephtones

45 months ago

Downloaded. Now waiting until the 25th!

Rating: 9 Votes

garylapointe

45 months ago

Awesome! Maybe we can get a few more members to join our cult now!

Gary

Rating: 2 Votes

jrlcopy

45 months ago

Have Google made this deliberately difficult to find? Even searching "Switch from Android to iOS" on Google Play doesn't display the app in the results.

I'd imagine it's similar to the App Store, it's a new app, and usually buried until it's more popular and the search algorithm gives it higher placement.

Or.... google is being bad.

Rating: 2 Votes

Tiger8

45 months ago

Great move! I have to ask the obvious question though, will Apple allow an iOS app called 'Move to Android'?

Rating: 2 Votes

peterh988

45 months ago

For the recycling bit, they should do it "Does it blend?" style in the middle of the store! :)

Rating: 1 Votes

66318

45 months ago

Have Google made this deliberately difficult to find? Even searching "Switch from Android to iOS" on Google Play doesn't display the app in the results.

It's not deliberate, it's the lag time from publish to fully searchable as the new info makes it out to all the components that run the stores. The same happens on the App Store.

When I was last publishing apps to both stores a bit over a year ago, the lag time from publish to full searchability was usually 6-8 hours. Sometimes quicker.

Rating: 1 Votes

cameronjpu

45 months ago

Pretty smart app, I wonder why it took nine years, or six, whenever android started to really take off, to do it. I would also like to know why they don't apply this sort of engineering talent to creating a phone back up when Apple tells users that they must do a complete wipe of the phone and may not back up their data and restore it because of some corruption. It would seem that this sort of application would really make that process a lot less painful.

Rating: 1 Votes

macduke

45 months ago

I just sent this jokingly to my coworker who has been an Android user for years and he said "You know what? This is actually great timing. We're thinking about switching and our plan is ready for an upgrade soon." And yes, he was being serious. Everyone else on our team has iOS stuff so he would fit right in. There are lots of Android users sitting on the fence who don't really have much brand loyalty. They just want a cool phone that works well. Some people just start off on Android because they got it for free when they were a teenager—and they continue to upgrade because that's all they know. But this app removes barriers to entry and just might pull over people who would otherwise continue to upgrade on another platform because that's what they do.

Rating: 1 Votes

thekeyring

45 months ago

I'd imagine it's similar to the App Store, it's a new app, and usually buried until it's more popular and the search algorithm gives it higher placement.

Or.... google is being bad.

Ah fair enough. That's a tough algorithm: Typing the exact name of the app and it still puts other apps first!

Rating: 1 Votes